Obama’s “Negligent” Path To A Delayed Attorney General Nomination

By |November 10, 2014

MainJustice.com chides the Obama administration for the “negligent” way in which it went about replacing Attorney General Eric Holder, who told the president in August he planned to step down. The White House should have had a nominee ready for confirmation in September, says MainJustice. Instead, the administration was in “disarray” as there was a series of “front-runners” touted for the job, including Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

Loretta Lynch, whose nomination the president announced on Saturday, finally was the candidate after Holder himself persuaded Obama of her merits. There also was the ever-shifting time table for getting the nominee confirmed. First it was let’s do it while Democrats still have control of the Senate. Now, incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) insists that it be done next year. By giving in so quickly on timing, the White House removed a potential bargaining chip between the outgoing Democratic majority and the Republicans, some of whom are insisting that Obama remove the threat of executive action on immigration as a condition for Lynch’s confirmation.

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